The Quasi-Dry State

RK Jeermison *

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At first glance one might get perplexed with the usage of the term 'quasi-dry state'. Here, the contention draws largely on the empirical justification of the ground situation in Manipur. It reflects the law and order situation and the programme instruments carrying out to serve the purpose of good administration. Conventionally 'quasi' means having some resemblance usually by possession of certain attributes. Manipur is a dry State and therefore selling and consumption of alcohol is prohibited. But in reality the picture is different.

Selling and consumption of spurious liquor is widespread, although illegal, but in many places this profession has become the only source of income and thus is carried out with impunity. Therefore, by preferring 'quasi-dry' instead of 'dry' is because that the characteristic 'dry' is only in the statute book and not on the real ground. The State is proud to announce that alcoholism in any form is illegal, and as a result crack down on these activities was accountable till the late 1980s.

But what we see today is that the State has become lax on the issue. Legalised wine shop in the form of our immediate neighbourhood such as Assam is prohibited in Manipur but local drinks such as ashaba and atingba is available almost in all localities.

An alcoholic person travelling on the NH 39 will for obvious reason find the popularity of Sekmai ashaba and will never miss if get a chance. The law protectors are not oblivious of the profession flourishing, but despite its unlawful nature, little have been done to contain this business. It is in this context that we find a paradox in the administration of the law.

In many areas of the State and among various communities locally brewed alcohol is attached to food habits and feeding practices that is a part of tradition. Not to mention a particular community, but even in Imphal, which is the seat of the State legislature, there are various communities selling locally brewed alcohol regardless of its illegal status. The profession is taken up as it seems to be legal.

Now the question confronting us is how can Manipur be called a dry State? Since it is a dry State, we of course find many dry elements in operation. There are theories that because of the prohibition of selling and consuming alcohol, people have responded to an alternative form of addiction. Sniffing of adhesive dendrite and enamel and even the white liquid eraser for deriving 'kick', all display the characteristics of 'dryness'.

In my area in Yainganpokpi which is on the road to Ukhrul district, I can roughly put that one in every five male adolescent youths have used and is currently abusing pharmaceutical drugs in different forms. Analgesic drugs such as Diazepam, Spasmo Proxyvon commonly known as SP, Morphine or amphetamines are the various addictive drugs people have responded to.

In situation where pharmacies and other common source of supply are unable to provide these drugs, youths have reacted to Moreh whisky, ashaba, dendrite, nail polish, ink eraser and to various qualities of opium. It is not only confining to Yainganpokpi but in many places of Manipur, youths in desperation have resorted to different chemical compounds compromising health. Policing and regulating drug store are of utmost importance in the present context.

Again we see the corrupt nature of our State. Security and State police are empowered to protect the law by checking these illegal activities. But whenever they apprehend a person in possession of illegal drugs and alcohol, they in turn make money by selling these substances. Various clandestine activities go unnoticed. Our underground moral police and women's organisation were to large extent effective in curbing these menaces especially when Manipur was rocking with heroine in the nineties. However, in this contemporary era, judging an addicted individual has become a debatable issue and as a result has remained near silent. I recalled the days when alcoholic and heroine addicted individuals were repeatedly punished but were never able to put a ban on the source.

Researchers believed that the porous border with the 'Golden Triangle' (Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) is one of the factors leading to the extensive injecting drug users among youths in the State. Our mechanisms have always failed to address the problem from the grass root level. Identifying the source from where these abusive substances materialised remains priority. Again if we have to wholly or partially endorse the hypothetical construction that because of prohibition of alcoholism, people find alternative resorting to pharmaceutical drugs and other chemical compounds, then we need to study whether declaring dry State has served the purpose.

As mentioned, alcohol although not abusive in nature is ingrained in various food cultures and any restriction on this becomes debatable. Moreover, the law have not been able to consistently check on this illegal profession flourishing. Therefore, we can question ourselves as to whether declaring dry State which is only in the statute book and not in application is rational or not. I am not going to the extent of recommending lifting off the ban on selling and consumption of alcohol, but we should be more logical in assessing the ground situation.

Although it is dry State, locally brewed alcohol is ubiquitous. My personal view point from health perspective is that, although consumption of alcohol is injurious to health, I would rather put that registered branded alcohol will be safer than our locally made ashaba. This I write, from hearsay, that profit driven motives people selling ashaba usually mix detergent powder so that the brewery will be ready in lesser number of days and that it will be more effective or stronger. Putting away the comparisons of ashaba or branded wine, I still cannot find the rationality behind prohibiting license branded wine shop when local alcohols are easily available.

The State administration is busy tackling the subject of extremism and HIV/AIDS, but has remained almost silent on investigating the factors responsible for its growth. Corruption is what I observe as the biggest impediment to our development. Citing an example of Yainganpokpi, we find that majority of the youths are loitering around with no employment but tracking only for addictive substances to pass off the day. This has become the usual routine for most of the youth in the area.

Estimating the loss of this human resource because of drug abuse in the future stands enormous. Non-governmental organisations in many areas are setting up 'Frequent Shooting Galleries' to prevent HIV/AIDS transmitting from injecting drug users to the general population, but have hardly filed a complaint report to the Government for the slack dispensing of drugs by pharmacies and other covertly operating agents.

Therefore, the question is finding logical explanation on the direction of where the State's policies and programme is heading to. What we need at the hour is to find factors responsible for the growth of widespread drug abuse among youths in the State.

Political factors such as the status of porous border, regulating pharmacies, and if necessary the role of dry State should be taken up for further research. Socio-economic factors like education and employment remains priority. The law must constantly keep an eye on pharmacies and the source from where illicit drugs materialised.

Participation of local panchayats, village authorities, meira paibis and women societies by providing adequate logistic support by the Government will be a positive step in curbing drug abuse among youths in Manipur. I am compelled to address this issue because of the sorry state of affairs in Manipur especially in Yainganpokpi where most of the youths are busy throughout the day abusing and searching for illicit drugs. Something must be done to stop this before it is too late.